Locking mechanism for doors



" Jan. 12, 1932,.

W. T. PIERCE LOCKING MECHANISM FOR DOORS Filed Jan. 18, 1926 Patented Jan. 12, 1932 WILLIAM T. PIERCE, or 'nnanrne, PENNSYLVANIA V LOCKING MECHANISM For, noons Application filed January IS, 1926. Serial No. 82,165.

In hotels as now constructed and arranged it is customary to have the toilets and closets arranged between adjoining bed rooms so that a single bathtub and toilet, or a single shower and toilet can be used by the occupant of each of the adjoining bed rooms.

With such an arrangement'it is necessary to provide locking mechanism for the doors to prevent the entrance of the occupant of one room into the'bath room when it is occupied by the occupant of the adjoining bed room, as otherwise the bath room must be reserved for only one of the bed rooms.

It is the object of this invention to devise 1 a novel control for the doors leading to the common bath room.

1 With the above and other objects in view as will hereinafter more clearly appear, my invention comprehends novel electrically "1?. controlled locking mechanism for the doors of adjoining bed rooms which communicate with a common bathroom.

It further comprehends .novel locking mechanism, and a novel electrical circuit for controlling said locking mechanism.

drawing a typical embodiment of it, which in practice, will give reliable and satisfactory results. It is, however, to be understood that'this embodimentfis typical only and that the various instrumentalities of.

which my invention consists can be variously arranged and organized, and the lnvention is not, therefore, limitedto the precise arrange-i ment and organization of these instrumentalities as herein set forth. Figure 1 is a sectional plan View ofatypical. arrangement of bed rooms with a common bath room, in conjunction with which look ing mechanism embodying my invention is employed. a

Figure 2 is a sectional view, partly di'agrammatic showing the locking mechanism and a wiring diagram.

Figure 3 is a cross sectlon of the door and easing at the front where the lock is located. Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts. v 1

Referring to the drawings I V l designates a typical arrangement of ads joining bed room in communication with. a

common bath room. The term bath room comprehends a room having toilet facilities, such as a toilet and bath tub ora shower, and

a lavatory may beprovi'ded in eithercase if desired. 2 and 3 designate respectively adjoining bed rooms which communicate with a common bath room 4 by means of the doors 5 and 6, which may open inwardly or outwardly or both inwardly and outwardly.

The outer wall of the building is provided with a window 7 for each bed room and each bed room has a door 8 leading to the conventional hall. j r

The arrangement is preferablysuch that two partitions 9 and 10 are formed so that a closet 11 is provided for the bed room 2 which is controlled by adoor 12,,and a'closet 13 is provided for the bed room 3 which is; controlled by the door 14. V

I also provide a recess or alcove for each room, there being an alcove 15 infree com.- munication with the room 2 and rovided with a lavatory 16, andan alcove 1 is Pro vided in free communication with the bed room 3 and this alcove also hasa lavatory. 18.

19 is the toilet, and a shower or bath can have any desired arrangement within the bathroom 4 and I have deemeditunnecessary to illustrate it, I

I will next describe the locking mechanismv for the doors 5and 6 and the manner in which such locking mechanism is controlled.

20 and 21 designate electrical. conductors communicating with. a transformen22 hav ing the conductors 23 and 2'4. Thel c'o'nd uc-i tor 23 communicates 'with a conductor '25.

leading to a spring contact 26, .withj which is adapted to co-operate a latch 27 in the form of a lever fulcrumed in but insulated from a box 28 which is grounded as at 29. The latch 27 is pivotally connected with the shank of a locking plunger 30 slidable in an aperture 31 in the door casing 32 and adapted to enter a recess or k eper 33 in the door 5. The latch 27 is electrically connected by a conductor 34 leading to the electromagnet 35 connected by line 36 to conductor 24.

The electromagnet 35 has an armature in the form of a lever 37 fulcrumed in but insulated from a box 38, which is grounded as at 39. The lever 37 is pivotally connected with the shank of a locking plunger 40 slidable in an aperture 41 in the door casing 42 and adapted to enter a recess or keeper 43 in the door 6.

The conductor 23 is connected with a conductor 44 connected with a spring contact 45, with which is adapted to co-operate a latch 46, in the form of a lever fulcrumed in but insulated from the box 38. The latch 46 is pivotally connected with the shank of a locking plunger 47, slidable in an aperture 48 in the door casing 42 and adapted to enter a recess or keeper 49 in the door 6.

The latch 46 is connected by a conductor 50 with an electromagnet 51 having a conduc tor 52, communicating with the conductor 24. The electromagnet 51 has its armature in the form of a lever 53 fulcrumed in but insulated from the box 28.

The lever 53 is pivotally connected with the shank of a locking plunger 54, slidable in an aperture 55 in the door casing 32, and adapted to enter a recess or keeper 56 in the door 5. The armature 53 is provided with a spring 57 tending to move it away from its electromagnet, and, in a similar manner, the armature 37 is provided with a spring 58. Each latch is provided with an actuating knob or handle 59.

60 is a lamp located at any desired place in the bed room 2 and in electrical connection with the conductors 50 and 52'. 61 is a lamp located at any desired place in the bed room 3 and electrically connected with the conductors 34 and 36.

The door 5 is provided with spring hinges 62 so that it will be self-closing, and, in a similar manner, the door 6 ispreferably provided with spring hinges 63 so that the door 6 will be self-closing.

It will be apparent that in accordance with my present invention it is immaterial Whether the doors open inwardly or out' wardly.

For purpose of illustration, 1 have shown the doors 5 and 6 as located opposite to each other, but it will be apparent that they will operate in the same manner irrespective of what their location may be with respect to their bed room and the common bath room.

The operation of my novel locking mechanism will now be apparent to those skilled in this art and is as follows:

Assuming that the occupant of the bed room 2 desires to use the bath room 4, he enters the bath room and actuates the latch 59, nearest his bed room, in a direction to cause the locking plunger 30 to enter the recess or keeper 33 in the door 5, thus mechanically locking the door 5 which communicates with the bed room 2.

As the latch 27 is actuated in a direction to lock the door 5, it contacts with the contact 26 thereby closing the circuit through the conductors 23 and 25, spring contact 26, latch 27, contact 34 and electromagnet 35, thereby energizing said electromagnet 35, the current flowing to the conductor 26 to return conductor 24.

When the electromagnet is energized, it attracts the armature 37, thereby causing the locking plunger 40 to move into the recess or keeper 43 of the door 6 thus locking the door 6, so that both the doors 5 and 6 are now locked.

When the occupant of the bed room 2 desires to leave the bath room 4 and re-enter his bed room 2, he retracts the latch 27 in a direction to cause the locking plunger 30 to be released so that the door 5 can now be opened. This movement of the latch 27 opens the circuit, so that the electromagnet 35 is ole-energized, thus permitting the spring 58 to cause the movement of the locking plunger 40 into its unlocked position, so that the door 6 is now unlocked.

Assuming that the occupant ofthebed room 3 desires to use the common bath room 4, he enters the bath room 4 and actuates the latch 46, thereby causing the locking plunger 47 to enter the recess or keeper 49 in the door 6, thus mechanically locking the door 6. This locking movement of the latch 46 closes the circuit through the contact 45 so that the current now flows from the conductor 23, conductor 44, contact 45, latch 46, conductor 50, electromagnet 51 and conductor 52 to the return conductor 24. This energizes the electromagnet 51, thus causing the armature to move against the action of the spring 57 and causes the locking plunger 54 to enter the recess or keeper 56 in the door 5, thus locking the door 5.

When the occupant of the bed room 3 desires to reenter his bed room, he moves the latch 46 in adirection to move the locking plunger 47 into its unlocked position thereby unlocking the door 6.

This movement of the latch 46 opens the circuit, so that the electromagnet 51 is deenergized and the spring 57 causes the locking plunger 54 to be moved into its unlocked position so that both of the doors 5 and 6 are now unlocked.

It will be apparent that the occupant of either bed room 2 or 3 can, at any time, lock his door 5 or 6 by means of the conventional manually actuated latch operated from inside the bed room.

It will be apparent that if the occupant of a bed room desires to leave his door open,

he can, by means of a chair or otherdevice, retain the door to his room in unlocked position, so that, when the locking plunger, such as, for example 48, is moved into its locked position it can not enter the recess 50 in the door 5.

He thus has free access to his own room 2, and, at the same time he retains the door to the other bed room in locked condition, so that the occupant of the other bedroom 3 can not enter the bathroom.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that I provide means to efiect the locking or unlocking of the doors communi eating with the bed rooms, and by the looking or unlocking of one door eflect the looking or unlocking of the other door leading from the other bed room to the common bath room.

It will be apparent that when the occupant of one bed room actuates the locking mechanism to cause one or more doors to be locked,

he, at the same time, gives a visible signal to the occupant of the other bed room that he I is using the bath room.

It will now be apparent that we have devised a new and useful locking mechanism for doors which embodies the features of 1 advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description, and while I" have, in the present instance, shown and described a preferred embodiment thereof which will give in practice satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that such embodiment is susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described my invention What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. In a multiple door locking mechanism in which a plurality of doors control communication between independent spaces and a given space, a manually 'controlled'means for each door normally retained in unlocked condition and adapted to lock one of said doors, and separate locking means for each door controlled by the locking of one of said doors to automatically effect the locln'ngof the other of said doors.

2. In a multiple door locking mechanism in which a plurality of doors control communication between independent spaces and a given space, a manually controlled locking mechanism for each door normally retained in unlocked condition and adapted to mechanically lock one of said doors, and electrical locking means for each. door controlled 7 

